Education

Helping staff and learners’ wellbeing

Curriculum for Wales and Wellbeing

Fortunately, this is the message underpinning Curriculum for Wales (CfW) with its 4 purposes for our learners to be:

• ambitious, capable learners
• enterprising, creative contributors
• ethical, informed citizens
• healthy, confident individuals

Better than that, the new curriculum includes an Area of Learning and Experience explicitly for Health and Well-being.  The MiSP Mapping shows how dots (30 session mindfulness curricula for age 3–6), Paws b (12 session curricula for age 7-11), .breathe (4 session mindfulness-based wellbeing curricula to support transitions for age 9 to 14) and .b (10 session curricula for age 11 to 18), can make a significant contribution to enabling children in Wales to realise the aims of CfW.  The context and policy framework are all we could wish for in Wales and there is already a lot of good practice, so our next challenge is to spread the word.  

Mindfulness is a journey

Even with such a supportive policy framework, introducing mindfulness is definitely a journey rather than an event.  I’ve been working in one local primary school in Torfaen for about 5 years and over that time nearly all the staff have completed .b Foundations (an introductory 8 week mindfulness course for adults), several staff have trained to teach Paws b, and mindfulness has been woven into the curriculum in every year group and every class.  I’m currently teaching dots in Y1 while they get a teacher trained – that’s an extra bonus for me as it’s such fun.  Mindful activities are built into the school day in all classes, all children do Paws b in Y4, and in Y6 they are currently doing individual projects to enhance their own mindfulness practice.  Staff didn’t need any convincing that what they do makes a significant contribution to the Descriptions of Learning at each Progression Step but having the MiSP/CfW Mapping has enabled them to articulate more specifically what they are doing in their curriculum development and schemes of work.  Mindfulness is built into the school development plan, and they are looking at the MiSP Pathways model to help take this forward.  The school is in a really challenging area and I’ve been so impressed with the attitudes and application of Y6 when I’ve been teaching them this term.

At secondary level, a community comprehensive in Neath Port Talbot, teaches .b to all Y7 pupils and follows up with a Mindfulness Club for pupils as they move through the school. Conscious of the evidence of the contribution mindfulness can make to the learning and wellbeing environment, several teachers, plus teaching assistants and dinner supervisors, have been involved in the mindfulness developments, and plans are afoot to involve the senior management team.  The MiSP/CfW Mapping is now being used to maximise the influence on the Health and Well-being Area of Learning and Experience.